The Stories We Told

The Unwilling, Part 3 Capter 4.

Seans Point of View 

I look at my men slowly moving forward through the bush. The flames slowly burning a large enough clearing for Air Cav. "Text! On me!" I yell for Landon, upon hearing this she runs towards me. "Yes sir," she asks wondering what she was needed for. "Radio," I say keeping it short and sweet. She nods and turns her back towards me. I pick up the phone. "Cutout cutout, this is monsoon baby. We need replacements and Medvacs, we just got out of a heavy firefight. 20 dead 5 injured. Were burning a landing zone for you, Over." The aircav Hq comes in. *Bssshht* "We read you, Monsoon Baby, this is aircav control. We can spot you a couple of men. But it's getting hard to get replacements. Everyone else is needing troops too. Over"The man on the other side of the radio says. 

I think for a second and pull my map out of my map bag. "Sounds good. Our current location is. 74,45, -67, Over."(I don't know how to type coordinates and I know it wasn't this easy to get replacement troops. But...plot.) "All is good Monsoon Baby, this is Hq signing off." He says ending the radio chatter. 

I take in a deep breath and hand the radio back to Landon. "Thanks, go link up with the others and help with what you can," I say the young Corporal. She gives me a sharp nod and walks off and joins the others in looking for gooks. I march up to the lead tank, which had sustained minor damage during the fire exchange. "Which one of you is the commander?" I say loudly. A staff sergeant looks at me with a surprised expression. "I am sir." She says getting caught off guard by my sudden loudness. "Were going to be held up for a while. Make yourself comfy." I say in a commanding tone.

 She nods as a young-looking man climbs out of the tank. He wore the rank of Specialist grade 4 on his sleeve. "Uhm hello Sir,  Uhm I'm the loader of this fine tank. And I just wanted to thank you for keeping us safe back there. I-It's a shame that we lost that other crew though." I listen to him talk. "No problem. It's our orders, we'll keep you safe." I say in a normal voice, then get out of their way so they can finish their repairs.

 I check my watch. It's about noon I decide since were waiting I might as well feed the boys. "Hey, let's take a break and fuel up and hydrate! Dig in!" I announce to the men and order them to at least dig in for a bit. In. I hope for them to rest. "Keep alert." The men look scared, sleep-deprived, nervous, sad. I felt a wave of sadness wash over my body, I felt weak to my knees. I felt like I needed to puke. I've known this feeling before. In Korea. When I saw my fellow soldiers and squadmates die. I walked behind the tank and looked at the dead bodies. "...I need to b-bring them all home. Alive...or dead." I said to myself as I buckle at my knees and fall to the cold jungle floor. The jungle canopy starts to spin around me as tears blur my eyes. I puke on the dirt and cry. My men are dying and I can't do anything about it. I've never felt so helpless since Korea. But this was war. And this is the cost of war. This is what happens to the unwilling. We are helpless in this war. At the will of our hidden enemy.